Local programs stare down funding cuts

Head Start students listen to a story. Head Start and Early Head Start are some of the programs that would see federal funding cut beginning Friday, when sequestration is set to take effect.

News Herald file photo

By Valerie Garman/The News Herald

Published: Monday, February 25, 2013 at 07:33 PM.

PANAMA CITY — Federally backed agencies across the U.S. are watching and waiting to see if Congress will allow a series of automatic spending cuts to go effect at the end of this week.

And, with everything from education to aviation security expecting automatic cuts this year if no action is taken, many Bay County organizations also are keeping a close eye on the so-called sequester.

Pam Fleege, executive director of the Panama City nonprofit Early Education and Care, said the organization is looking at an 8 percent cut for the national Head Start and Early Head Start programs they support.

Head Start and Early Head Start programs provide child care and early education for low-income families, with eligibility determined by local program staff. In Bay County, 587 children are enrolled.

“The parents that we deal with are parents that are working and/or going to school,” Fleege said. “Most of them are the working poor.”

Nationwide, 70,000 students could be unenrolled in Head Start programs, which would include 2,700 children in Florida and 42 in Bay County.

Fleege said the organization, which brings $5 million annually to Bay County, also is expecting to lose a minimum of five jobs if the cuts go through.

PANAMA CITY — Federally backed agencies across the U.S. are watching and waiting to see if Congress will allow a series of automatic spending cuts to go effect at the end of this week.

And, with everything from education to aviation security expecting automatic cuts this year if no action is taken, many Bay County organizations also are keeping a close eye on the so-called sequester.

Pam Fleege, executive director of the Panama City nonprofit Early Education and Care, said the organization is looking at an 8 percent cut for the national Head Start and Early Head Start programs they support.

Head Start and Early Head Start programs provide child care and early education for low-income families, with eligibility determined by local program staff. In Bay County, 587 children are enrolled.

“The parents that we deal with are parents that are working and/or going to school,” Fleege said. “Most of them are the working poor.”

Nationwide, 70,000 students could be unenrolled in Head Start programs, which would include 2,700 children in Florida and 42 in Bay County.

Fleege said the organization, which brings $5 million annually to Bay County, also is expecting to lose a minimum of five jobs if the cuts go through.

“It’s all a wait-and-see kind of attitude; it has a lot of people very concerned,” Fleege said. “It’s kind of like nothing is going to be untouched. It’s going to be very, very difficult if they (lawmakers) don’t come together and do something, but we’re hopeful.”

Head Start was only one item on a lengthy list the White House released Sunday outlining the potential impacts of the automatic spending cuts for each state.

The report, compiled using numbers from federal agencies and the White House Budget Office, outlines $85 billion in cuts set to take effect this year if Congress does not act by Friday.

Florida also is facing a $54.5 million cut in federal funding for primary and secondary education and a $31.1 million loss for programs that support education for children with disabilities.

However, Superintendent Bill Husfelt said the potential cuts are not anything new for Bay District Schools.

“We already started cutting when the first sequester was going into effect” Jan. 1, Husfelt said. “Unfortunately, we’ve been used to cutting and cutting.”

For Bay District Schools, the cuts will affect special student education programs that are funded by federal grants and entitlements, and also limit federal dollars received for staff development.

Husfelt said the district already reduced staff hours and adjusted the budget accordingly.

“We’re prepared to make those cuts where needed,” Husfelt said. “We’re not excited about it, but we’re prepared for it.”

Senior meals

Florida’s federally-funded programs that provide meals for seniors also are facing a potential $3.8 million cut.

Beth Coulliette, executive director of the Bay County Council on Aging, said the agency provides 80,000 meals each year to 1,000 seniors in Bay County, and the area’s elderly population continues to grow.

Coulliette said because the organization is funded through the Older Americans Act (OAA), she was unaware how it may be affected by the sequester.

However, Coulliette said the agency already received a $10,000 cut this year to its home meal delivery program, Meals on Wheels.

“It’s very difficult when you’re a nonprofit and you already have to stretch your budget very thin,” Coulliette said. “What we’ll have to do is just take the funding available to us and do what we can with it.”

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson released a statement Monday supporting a $110 billion sequester-replacement bill released by Democratic Senate leaders. The bill would replace the spending cuts by raising $54 billion in taxes through a minimum effective tax for wealthy individuals and families.

“Sequestration — or, across-the-board budget cuts — were never intended to happen. And the main reason we don’t have a solution yet is because some in Washington are doing a Kabuki dance,” Nelson said. “I think the Senate should pass the $110 billion plan we put on the table last week to avert these impending mandatory budget cuts. Then we can use that to work out a compromise with the House.”

Rep. Steve Southerland, R-PanamaCity, laid the blame for the spending cuts on President Barack Obama.

“The President is now attacking the same sequestration plan he, himself, proposed,” he said in a news release. “The Obama Sequester is triggered on March 1st, but the cuts are spread out over the remainder of the fiscal year. That means there will still be an opportunity for his administration to get serious about joining House Republicans in cutting spending, despite the President’s continued fear mongering on the issue. Cutting three cents from every dollar isn’t difficult. We can do so in smarter, more significant ways than the White House would let you believe is possible.”

Sequestration at a glance

In addition to the cuts to child care, education and senior meal service, Florida also could see:

- Reduction of 1,700 work-study positions for low-income college students

- $5.2 million cut in environmental funding

- $1.1 million cut in grants for fish and wildlife protection

- Reduction in law enforcement and public safety grant funding of $970,000